Date of Award

Spring 1974

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

A. Sidney Roberts, Jr.

Committee Member

Donald F. Brink

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56P33

Abstract

Design and performance characteristics of a fiber optic pressure transducer are presented and discussed. The transducer consists of a cylindrical metal housing with a specular reflecting aluminum diaphragm at the distal end and a circular array of fiber optic light guides at the proximal end. The center bundle is connected to a light source with the surrounding bundles carrying reflected light to a photodetector. A change in pressure on the diaphragm causes a deflection which in turn causes a change in intensity over the light receiving fibers. The intensity is converted to a voltage signal by the photodetector circuit. Thus, the output voltage is related to the instantaneous pressure on the diaphragm.

Various diaphragm diameters, thicknesses, source-detector distances, and source-detector arrangements are explored in static and dynamic testing. A 0.3125 inch diameter, 2 mil thick, H19 aluminum diaphragm operating at a probe distance of one inch was found to be the optimum configuration for this system in con)unction with a Cadmium Sulfide photodetector. The fiber optic transducer was found to give a faster response and much higher output signal than a Statham strain gage transducer with which it was compared. Experimental results are presented and discussed along with a theoretical model. Emphasis is put on the preferential use of this type of transducer in hostile environments such as wind tunnel testing.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/mvpn-fk95

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